Big Man On Campus: Week 1, Day 1

Maybe there's a girl you want to impress, or you're ready to put "skinny kid" in your rearview. Maybe you need extra size for your sport, or you're just eager to learn and lift for life. Whatever your motivation, I'll help you become Big Man on Campus.

Today's chest and triceps workout will introduce you to hard work and heavy weight. You'll get to know big dumbbells and short rest periods. After this training session, your chest and triceps will be so pumped you'll have trouble removing your shirt.

Abs: 4 rounds, no rest between sets

Bigger Man Tips

Everything I do is based on progression. To get bigger and stronger, you have to add weight, decrease rest time and focus up. Get pumped and don't let your form get sloppy. Don't cheat yourself of great results. Increase weight every time you can over the next 12 weeks.

Mental Game ///

Get motivated every day. You can't walk into the gym if you're not ready to work. You need to prepare yourself to go through hell. This isn't going to be easy, but guess what: Life and college aren't always easy.

What you learn in the gym each day is something you can transfer to your school studies and the rest of your life. You need discipline and focus because you'll be pushed to your limits. As soon as you step foot in the gym, it's all business—that's the only way to succeed.

Exercise Tips

Incline Press ///

After the fourth set, immediately strip some weight and move into a dropset to take this exercise beyond momentary muscle failure. Do 21 reps, switching your hand positions after every seven reps.

Do seven reps with a close grip, seven with a medium grip and seven with a wide grip. Changing your hand position will isolate different areas of the chest.

In order to save my shoulders, I don't bring the bar all the way to my chest on the way down. The downward movement should stop about four inches above your chest, and then you'll press all the way up.

Incline Flye ///

I do two incline exercises because I have a weak upper chest. It's my weakness, so I use the priority principle to attack my weak spots first. Back-to-back incline exercises might feel weird at first, but in a couple weeks, you'll be thanking me.

As you do the movement, don't touch the dumbbells together at the top. You want to keep constant tension on the chest—all the way down and all the way up. When you do your final drop set, do it without rest. You want to force that blood into your chest.

Dumbbell Press ///

The dumbbell press builds mass and adds thickness to the middle chest. It's a compound exercise, so you'll be resting 60-to-90 seconds. Because we're doing a lot of chest work today, you might have to use lighter weight than you're used to pressing. Don't let that bother you.

Jump on the parallel bars or dip machine. Lean forward so that your chest is over your knees. This is your starting position. As you come down, your chest should be stressed and there shouldn't be any stress on your triceps. Raise up by squeezing your chest. It should feel almost like a flye movement.

Watch the video: My push-ups may look strange, but they're great for getting a massive pump. Act like you're going into a yoga downward dog and walk your feet in. Rock forward and then push back. This intense superset is what separates the contenders from the pretenders.

Skull Crusher and Close-Grip Bench ///

I train chest and triceps together because you work your triceps as a secondary muscle when you hit your chest. Generally, pushing motions involve both the chest and the triceps. This superset is sure to blast your triceps right off the bat.

When you rest, grab a drink, flex, stretch, and keep your eye on the clock. Sixty seconds goes by quickly. Don't rest any longer than necessary. You're almost to the end of this workout, so push with everything you've got. Your future, bigger self will thank you.

Triceps Pushdown ///

For pure triceps extension, don't engage your shoulders and keep your elbows down by your sides. If you're like me and have an area of your triceps that needs some extra work, try partial movements to force more blood into the muscle.

Dumbbell Extension ///

Don't rest during this dumbbell extension bomb. You'll perform drop set after drop set. If you can't move your arms, you know this quadruple finisher is working. Your arms should be torched. If you need a little help drinking your protein shake, don't hesitate to ask a buddy.

yeah like lovellman is trying to say, the tricep push downs and dumbbell overhead extensions are not a superset together, they are two separate exercises. you only quadruple drop set the dumbbell overhead extensions. you finish the three sets for pushdowns, then move on to the overhead extensions.

For the first lift it says incline dumbbell press but in the video he is doing barbell, anyone notice this? I was thinking of using dumbbells then for the 21 rep moving over to barbell real fast. I'm excited to begin this after I finish up the Stoppani 12 weeks to size.

Should we drink our protein before or after our ab workout? Because my body may need the nutrients immediately after the chest and triceps workout, but my stomachs not going to like me for all the excess liquid from the protein drink.

i would have that problem too. what i would usually do is just switch my routine up. do your ab workout before your chest and tri. that way when your done with chest and tris you can drink it right after. or you can just drink it after your entire workout because either way your going to moving and working out, so i dont think it will hurt to wait till your done with both.